[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 27 (Monday, February 10, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Page 7540]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02573]


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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

[Docket No.: ED-2019-ICCD-0145]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2021

AGENCY: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Department of 
Education (ED).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, ED is 
proposing a revision of an existing information collection.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
March 11, 2020.

ADDRESSES: To access and review all the documents related to the 
information collection listed in this notice, please use http://www.regulations.gov by searching the Docket ID number ED-2019-ICCD-
0145. Comments submitted in response to this notice should be submitted 
electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov by selecting the Docket ID number or via postal 
mail, commercial delivery, or hand delivery. If the regulations.gov 
site is not available to the public for any reason, ED will temporarily 
accept comments at [email protected]. Please include the docket ID 
number and the title of the information collection request when 
requesting documents or submitting comments. Please note that comments 
submitted by fax or email and those submitted after the comment period 
will not be accepted. Written requests for information or comments 
submitted by postal mail or delivery should be addressed to the 
Director of the Strategic Collections and Clearance Governance and 
Strategy Division, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave. SW, 
LBJ, Room 6W208B, Washington, DC 20202-4537.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For specific questions related to 
collection activities, please contact Kashka Kubzdela, 202-245-7377 or 
email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Education (ED), in 
accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(2)(A)), provides the general public and Federal agencies with 
an opportunity to comment on proposed, revised, and continuing 
collections of information. This helps the Department assess the impact 
of its information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. It also helps the public understand the Department's 
information collection requirements and provide the requested data in 
the desired format. ED is soliciting comments on the proposed 
information collection request (ICR) that is described below. The 
Department of Education is especially interested in public comment 
addressing the following issues: (1) Is this collection necessary to 
the proper functions of the Department; (2) will this information be 
processed and used in a timely manner; (3) is the estimate of burden 
accurate; (4) how might the Department enhance the quality, utility, 
and clarity of the information to be collected; and (5) how might the 
Department minimize the burden of this collection on the respondents, 
including through the use of information technology. Please note that 
written comments received in response to this notice will be considered 
public records.
    Title of Collection: National Assessment of Educational Progress 
(NAEP) 2021.
    OMB Control Number: 1850-0928.
    Type of Review: A revision of an existing information collection.
    Respondents/Affected Public: Individuals or Households.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 628,121.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 371,982.
    Abstract: The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 
conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), is a 
federally authorized survey of student achievement at grades 4, 8, and 
12 in various subject areas, such as mathematics, reading, writing, 
science, U.S. history, civics, geography, economics, technology and 
engineering literacy (TEL), and the arts. The National Assessment of 
Educational Progress Authorization Act (Pub. L. 107-279 Title III, 
section 303) requires the assessment to collect data on specified 
student groups and characteristics, including information organized by 
race/ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, disability, and limited 
English proficiency. It requires fair and accurate presentation of 
achievement data and permits the collection of background, 
noncognitive, or descriptive information that is related to academic 
achievement and aids in fair reporting of results. The intent of the 
law is to provide representative sample data on student achievement for 
the nation, the states, and subpopulations of students and to monitor 
progress over time. The nature of NAEP is that burden alternates from a 
relatively low burden in national-level administration years to a 
substantial burden increase in state-level administration years when 
the sample has to allow for estimates for individual states and some of 
the large urban districts (as part of the Trial Urban District 
Assessment, or TUDA, program). This request is to conduct NAEP 2021, 
including operational assessments and pilot tests: Operational 
national/state/TUDA Digitally Based Assessments (DBA) in mathematics 
and reading at grades 4 and 8, and Puerto Rico in mathematics at grades 
4 and 8; and operational national DBA in U.S. history and civics at 
grade 8. In 2021, NAEP will begin to transition to a design in which 
students will take additional set(s) of cognitive items from another 
subject area. This design will allow more information to be collected 
from each individual student, thereby reducing the number of overall 
students (and, thus, schools) that are required. The NAEP results will 
be reported to the public through the Nation's Report Card as well as 
other online NAEP tools.

    Dated: February 5, 2020.
Stephanie Valentine,
PRA Coordinator, Strategic Collections and Clearance, Governance and 
Strategy Division, Office of Chief Data Officer.
[FR Doc. 2020-02573 Filed 2-7-20; 8:45 am]
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